Skepticism

Subscribe to Blog via Email

EVENTS

“The solution is seen as morally repugnant by some people”

Speaking of people we don’t need to hear from ever again…James Damore was interviewed by Thomas Smith, and Damore was an example of posturing aggrieved entitlement. Smith kept pointing out that there are real problems of discrimination, and that there are a number of strategies that companies like Google are trying to use to resolve them, and Damore kept objecting to them either by denying the problems, or by suggesting that these programs should be rejected because they are resented by “some people”, like Libertarians who see them as unfair to white men. If a deplorable doesn’t like something, that’s sufficient to reject it. Damore keeps bring up vague generalities and blanket condemnations of sociology, which he clearly doesn’t understand.

“Sensitivity training is unnecessary!”, the pronouncement of insensitive people everywhere.

Smith keeps his feet to the fire throughout, demanding evidence and asking him to back up assertions. It was annoyingly frustrating because he couldn’t — he just dodges, brings up something irrelevant, and wanders off topic, or piles on more claims that need to be debunked. And near the end, Smith tries to get Damore to defend his claim that “men are more logical than women”, and all Damore can muster is a weird circular argument to simultaneously defend the fact that more men are Libertarian than women, and that Libertarianism is more logical, by pointing out that therefore we’d expect more men would be Libertarian.

You posted the link that I clicked through on, so I think YOU owe me that hour back. Fuuuuuck.

A highlight (late in the podcast) is that this MRAcist, after repeatedly denying that differential outcomes by gender are a result of sexism, immediately attributes differential imprisonment rates to sexism against men. Immediately after which Smith mentioned racial disparity in imprisonment and this jagoff responds, “If there’s a racial bias involved in that…” Because that’s highly doubtful, just like sexism is known to be a non-issue, just like bad outcomes for men can only be caused by sexism.

Note that a few minutes after all that, he refers Smith to the “red-pill documentary.”

…suggesting that these programs should be rejected because they are resented by “some people”, like Libertarians who see them as unfair to white men. If a deplorable doesn’t like something, that’s sufficient to reject it. Damore keeps bring up vague generalities and blanket condemnations of sociology, which he clearly doesn’t understand.

So workplace measures need to default to his standards, and no new measure can be implemented so long as that workplace has any Damores in it objecting to such things. The libertarian view is not only the default, but also the winner in case of dispute.

I listen to Serious Inquiries Only and Opening Arguments, both of which feature Thomas Smith, and recommend both highly. He’s very good at arguing without making it all about his ego, which is refreshing.

The paper thin gap between his high-minded psuedoscience act and just plain old dumbass reddit MRA is hilarious. He even cited the Red Pill “documentary” at one point.

His entire worldview is based on observing some statistical data (minorities have lower SAT scores, women have lower paying jobs…) and concluding that there is a non cultural reason. Of course, he won’t just say “black people are dumb” so you get a lot of stuttering babble about “lots of people think…” and “I’m not saying it’s 100%….”

What nonsense. The host could have been stronger. It’s tough talking to these idiots because of Gish Galloping and Whataboutism (you start with a conversation about gender roles and 4 sentences later you’re trying to figure out what minorities having a higher incarceration rate has to do with the discussion), but it would have been nice for him to pursue this bullshit a little more doggedly – especially on the science, which this dumbass uses as his shield.

I think people versed on the subject will see what a shallow, bigoted thinker Damore is, but the reddit crowd thinks he pwned an SJW.

James Damore is a male Tomi Lahren. They’re both young, full of themselves, getting more attention than any of their actual accomplishments deserve, and wallowing in their own celebrity without learning anything of substance to back it up.

juliestahlhut — Damore has no accomplishments. He doesn’t even get a Wikipedia page in his name (fittingly). I don’t think he was anything special at Google. All he did was post an ill-conceived opinion on an internal website at Google, double-downed about his right to be a jerk, and got himself dismissed. Compared to that, Lahren is a ball of fire with many accomplishments. I wouldn’t bother to watch her, but at least she has produced something.